Bed mattress



May 24, 1949. O N ETAL 2,471,125

' BED MATTRESS Filed June 10, 1947 /Z 1 V n I Patented May 24, 1949 UNITED STATES PAT EN T "OLFICE BED MATTRESS Carl R. Sohn and ArthurG.-Sohn,-hicago, Ill. Application June 10, 1947,"'SerialNo. 753x348 1Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in bed mattresses, and moreparticularly to an improved mattress having a stiffening member orbed-board incorporated therein.

In many cases involving back injuries and medically recognized ailmentsof the back such as sacroiliac sprains and strains, arthritic conditionsof the back and some cases of mild deformity, a firm mattress support ishighly desirable and frequently prescribed by medical practitioners.Most hospitals are equipped with boards of plywood or similar material,that can be placed on top of a mattress 0r beneath a comparatively thin,dense mattress, depending upon the degree of rigidity desired. Such aloose board, however, is difficult to store and to keep in properposition upon or beneath a mattress, and is unsatisfactory for use witha conventional innerspring mattress such as would be used by mostunhospitalized cases of such back injury or ailment. Using such a boardon top of an innerspring mattress would produce a bed too hard for anyreasonable degree of comfort, and if an inner-spring mattress wereplaced on top of the board, the board would do little, if any, good.

Since most people purchase mattresses of the inner-spring type and wouldnot wish to purchase a special mattress and bed board for a temporarycondition of back injury or ailment, the present invention contemplatesthe provision of a combined soft and rigid mattress, one side of whichmay be used to rigidly support a person having an injured or ailingback, and the opposite side of which provides a conventionalinner-springtype mattress.

It is, therefore, among the objects of the invention to provide animproved inner-spring mattress having a rigid or resiliently pliableboard or equivalent structure incorporated in one side only thereof, sothat the mattress has a firm side and a soft side of conventionalinner-spring construction, either side being usable as may be desired,which improved mattress is attractive in appearance, of light weight andeasy to handle, economical to manufacture, and has the bed board orequivalent structure permanently incorporated therein to eliminate thenecessity of storing the board when not in use and any tendency of theboard to move relative to the mattress when in use.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a considerationof the following description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross section through 2 a 'inattressillustrative of the invention taken on the lin'e I '-I of Figure 2 andFigure 2 is a top plan view of the mattress illustrated in Figure -1.

With continued reference to -the drawing, the numeral If! indicates aninner-spring unit which may be made up of a plurality of individualcoiled springs I I tied together in the conventional manner to provide amattress unit and covered, if desired, with a covering of muslin orother suitable fabric.

Inner pads I2, preferably of a. coarse, resilient fibre, such as sisalfibre are disposed one at each side of the inner-spring unit I 0 and anouter pad I3 of a finer fibre, such as felted cotton, rubberized cottonor hair, or other suitable or conventional material is disposed inoverlying relationship to the outer side of one of the inner-pads I2. Acovering I4 of bed ticking overlies the outer pad I3 and a sheet I5 ofsuitable fabric, such as muslin, is superimposed upon the other of theinner-pads I2. Tufting threads I6 extend through the ticking I4, theouter-pads l3, the inner-pads I2, the inner-spring unit I0, and thefabric sheet I5 and provide a tufted finish for the cover I4 of tickingfabric.

A bed board I! is superimposed upon the fabric sheet I5 and is coveredby an outer-pad I8 superimposed thereon so that the bed board overliesthe fabric covering at one side of the inner-spring unit and theouter-pad I8 overlies the board. A covering I9 of bed ticking overliesthe outer surface of the outer-pad I8 and the ticking covers I4 and I9are joined at their edges to a border 20 which surrounds the mattress.

The bed board I! is secured to the inner-spring unit through theinner-pad I2 by suitable means such as staples or split rings and may beformed of various materials and have several different forms. Forexample, the bed board may be formed. of a piece of plywood of suitablethickness ormay be for-med of a sheet of metal such as aluminum or ironor of a sheet of synthetic resin plastic and may be apertured or stampedor formed as a grid to reduce its Weight while retaining the desireddegree of rigidity. case, the bed board structure is preferablyresiliently pliable and the outer-paddin I8 is of sufficient thicknessto provide a reasonably comfortable support for a person reclining onthe mattress. Since the bed-board structure I! may be made of variousmaterials and in various forms, the term bed-board structure hereinafterused is intended to include all such mate- In any rials and forms inorder to simplify the description and the claim.

There is thus provided an improved combination mattress having a softside, the lower side as illustrated in Figure 1, which is supported uponthe inner-spring unit [0, and a firm side, the upper side as illustratedin Figure 1, which is supported on a substantially rigid orresilientlypliable bed-board structure to give it the desired degree offirmness or rigidity for the proper support of a person having a backinjury or a back ailment.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoingdescription, and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency Of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embracedtherein.

What is claimed is:

A bed mattress comprising an inner-spring unit, inner-pads of coarsefibre disposed one at .4 each side of said unit, an outer-pad overlyingone of said inner-pads, ticking overlying said outerpad, a sheet offabric overlying the other of said innner-pads, tufting threadsextending through said ticking, inner-pads, inner-spring unit and fabricsheet, a bed-board structure overlying said fabric sheet and secured tosaid inner-spring unit, an outer-pad overlying said bed board, tickingoverlying said last-mentioned outer-pad, and a border surrounding saidmattress and secured at its edges to the edges of said ticking.

CARL R. SOHN.

ARTHUR G. SOHN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 718,524 Ritter Jan. 13, 19031,159,846 Kindel NOV. 9, 1915 2,154,910 Magaril Apr. 18, 1939 2,257,994Zofnass Oct. 7, 1941

